Luis Suárez faces Arsenal with Brendan Rodgers insisting there was no chance
he would move there

Luis Suárez will face Arsène Wenger on Saturday with Brendan Rodgers insisting the Uruguayan striker’s move to Arsenal was “never going to happen”.

Suárez is set to spearhead Liverpool's attempt to issue a huge statement of intent against the Premier League leaders, three months after Wenger infuriated Rodgers by offering £40 million plus a pound - the amount it was erroneously claimed would trigger the player’s release.

Wenger’s bid to sign Suárez descended into acrimony with the forward handing in a transfer request and publicly admitting he wanted to leave, but Liverpool owner John W Henry insisting he would not sell to a perceived rival.

Suárez eventually backed down after a protracted and bitter saga and has since returned from his 10-match suspension to score six goals for Liverpool, with Rodgers taking his evolving team to the Emirates Stadium insisting that the 26-year-old has stayed at a bigger club.

“I understand why Arsenal would want to buy a player of Luis’s quality because he is one of the leading strikers in the world but it was something that was never going to happen,” he said. “For us and the institution we are we certainly weren’t going to sell to a rival, a competitor, and that was something which was very strong from the off.

“There was all sorts of gossip on the summer but we were very firm in our leadership, from the top right the way through, that this was something we didn’t want to do. You have to give credit to the [other] players themselves. It certainly wasn’t an easy situation.

“It was also a great credit to the owners and the leadership of the club that they stood by what my thoughts were as a manager and they backed it all the way.

“This was the place for Luis to showcase his talents. He is a player, like some of our other players, who deserves to be playing at the highest level of European football but we believe he can do that at Liverpool.

“Once the window was shut, like we thought, there was never going to be an issue.”

The uncertainty surrounding Suárez’s future has now been rendered a distant memory after Liverpool’s stirring start to the season.

Rodgers has guided the club to six wins from their opening nine games, with only one defeat, and much of that is down to Suárez’s dynamic partnership with Daniel Sturridge, who said on Thursday that he was never given a chance to show what he could do as a centre-forward at Chelsea during a frustrating 3½-year stay at Stamford Bridge.

Sturridge scored just 13 times in 63 games at Chelsea, but has notched 18 goals in 23 Premier League appearances since he moved to Liverpool for £12m at the start of the year.

Having been pushed out on to the wing and rarely given a run in the side at Chelsea, it has been the return to his natural position at Liverpool which has brought out the best in the 24-year-old.

“When I went to Bolton on loan, I was able to show what I can do because I was playing as a centre-forward,” he told TalkSport. “At Chelsea, I never got the chance to do that, and I’ve got that opportunity here at Liverpool. I’m just playing the position that I enjoy playing in. The manager knows what I need. I needed to be believed in, to play as a centre-forward.”